Pat Robinson in the U.K. asks ... What is synesthesia and can you learn to become synesthetic?

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Flo Longhorn... sent this great reply - Synaesthesia - People with synaesthesia (about 1 in 25,000) may hear numbers in colour or experience words as tastes. Their senses mingle and a stimulus to one sense can give rise to entirely unexpected responses in others. One person ‘tastes’ words complete with texture and temperature. Another finds smells are sensed in colour too, grass is purple and roses are grey. The taste of chocolate may bring on a prickly feeling or a bell sound is heard with red daggers.Those who have the condition see it as part of life and many do not realise they are different. I wonder if some children with special needs, especially those with autism could have this condition and find it very much harder to make sense of the world that surrounds them. How does this sensory mix–up happen? Where in the brain does it take place? Scientists seem to think it happens with a cross wiring within the brain or a chemical imbalance as one brain region talks to another region in the brain.It is unlikely that you can become a person with synaesthesia. But wouldn’t it be fun to be able to smell the colour of paint, hear words in colour or taste numbers! There is an organisation for synaesthesia in the UK www.brighton-breezy.co.uk and another website of interest is www.cytowic.net

Flo longhorn

Richard - Thanks again Flo